


the end and the beginning

by BetterInFiction



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Butterflies, M/M, Post-Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Rebuilding, no tilde just cuz, remember when harry got hit in the face with a frying pan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-02 21:41:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14554122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetterInFiction/pseuds/BetterInFiction
Summary: "As one of our founding Kingsman once said: This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."





	the end and the beginning

“Missed.”

Harry wanted to swipe that smug grin off of the boy’s face.

“Missed.”

“Shut up.”

Eggsy twirled, flashing out of sight for a second. Harry leaned back onto his heel, feeling the sharp burst of air as Eggsy’s fist punched past his left eye.

“Missed,” Harry snapped back. Eggsy’s grin only grew wider.

“Yeah well I’m not the one that got smashed in the face with a fryin’ pan am I?”

“You took quite a few blows if memory serves.”

“I was up against a fuckin’ robot arm!”

“Yes and I was up against a cast iron skillet.”

“Un-fucking-believable,” Eggsy snorts. Harry uses the moment to his advantage and the young man hits the mat with a satisfying thump.

“Fuck,” Eggsy breathes, limbs akimbo. Harry felt himself grin as he offered his hand.

“My depth perception may not be what it was but I can still show you a thing or two.” He took a step back, wiping the sweat from his brow. A _Parnassius clodius_ fluttered across the gymnasium.

“Butterflies?” Eggsy asked, a more serious tone taking over.

“Just one,” he sighed. Eggsy hummed and glanced around the room, as if he could see the insect as well.

“Do you…,” Eggsy started before trailing off, an unfamiliar line forming between his eyebrows.

“What is it Eggsy?” Harry asked, examining the younger man's face. It was still like that defiant face of the boy he had met but a certain tiredness had set around his eyes.

“Is that something that you still want? To be a lepidopterist?” Eggsy finished eyes glancing upwards to meet his for a moment. Harry was taken aback by the question.

“It's not that I wouldn't understand,” Eggsy scrambled, hands waving. “What with everythin’ that's happened; if you wanted to leave Kingsman.”

“I didn't realize that you were planning my retirement party,” Harry joked, his words coming back.

“That's not what I meant,” Eggsy rolled his eyes. “it's just it would be fine if.. What are you laughing at?” Eggsy squawked at the chuckle that escaped through Harry’s lips.

“I thought it was obvious,” Harry smiled.

“Thought what was obvious?” Eggsy asked, the crinkle still there above his nose.

“There’s something that you should know about the man that you met in the bunker. The lepidopterist,” he looked around the room, half expecting a phantom swarm to appear at the word. Eggsy blinked up at him, still confused. Harry sighed and powered on. “That man doesn’t exist anymore. He was a ghost, a remnant of someone that I used to be a long time ago.”

“I still don’t understand Harry.”

“I told you before that I have had very few attachments in life. When I was around your age, I was afraid of many things. Truly,” he added when Eggsy snorted. “I wasn’t a very sociable child, I was left to my own devices. My world was very small, so I was afraid of anything that I couldn’t control. So I immersed myself in a world that I could. It was that small bubble that kept everyone that tried to get close away. But that wasn’t a life that I could justifiably stay in. So the choice became abundantly clear.”

“You joined up,” Eggsy stated.

“Indeed. The rest is history,” Harry waved his hand.

“You could still go back Harry,” Eggsy said solemnly.

“I can’t go back to being a lepidopterist just like you can’t go back to being that boy in the police station,” Harry sighed, looking into Eggsy’s eyes. That crease was gone now, and the boy finally seemed to understand. “Kingsman might not be what it once was, but it’s every part of who I am now. I’m sure you would agree.”

Eggsy nodded, that determination set back in his posture.

“So how about we get to work then?” Harry asked.

“Fuck yeah Harry,” Eggsy grinned broadly. Harry returned the smile.

Fuck yeah indeed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm rusty


End file.
